Bryant document cites testimony of contact with 'Mr. X'

By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News
August 3, 2004

Kobe Bryant's alleged victim had sexual contact with a mystery man, referred to as "Mr. X," after she was with the NBA star, an expert testified in a court document that has been barred from publication for six weeks.

After weeks of legal battles that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Eagle County Judge Terry Ruckriegle late Monday released 75 pages of heavily edited documents from a June 21-22 hearing that were mistakenly sent to seven news organizations last month.

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But Ruckriegle lifted the gag order with "great reluctance," saying the release of the transcript was contrary to the law that protects the privacy of rape and crime victims. The media groups had argued that it was unconstitutional for a judge to restrain them from publishing or broadcasting anything legally obtained.

"This court has struggled for several weeks with the obvious and conflicting convergence of rights presented by this situation," Ruckriegle wrote in an order.

Ruckriegle redacted the transcripts of any mention of the woman's name, some of her sexual activity, mental health history, medications and any drug or alcohol use.

Appearing for Bryant's legal team, Elizabeth Johnson, a forensic DNA expert, testified that Mr. X's DNA was found in the young woman's purple underwear she had on June 30, 2003, when she encountered Bryant at a posh Eagle County resort and in the yellow underwear she wore to her rape exam. Mr. X's DNA also was found in swabs taken from other parts of her body, according to the testimony.

Bryant's DNA was found in the woman's purple underwear but not the yellow underwear she wore to the exam at a Glenwood Springs hospital about 15 hours after being with Bryant, Johnson testified under questioning by Hal Haddon, Bryant's attorney.

Mr. X's DNA wasn't found on the white Nike T-shirt Bryant was wearing that night - although the woman's DNA and blood were found there, Johnson said. Nor were Mr. X's fluids found on Bryant's body, she said.

Bryant's lawyers are trying to prove that the 20-year-old Eagle woman had sex with "three men in three days," so her injuries couldn't have been caused by Bryant.

The woman's attorney, John Clune, has denied that and said anyone pursuing the idea is "chasing ghosts."

The Eagle County district attorney's office wants to explain the presence of Mr. X's DNA by saying that the woman put on the yellow underwear that already had a "dry semen stain" in them, Johnson said. But that "transfer theory" is "extremely far-fetched," Johnson said, because the alleged victim had semen on her inner thigh in three circles, as well as inside her body.

Johnson said her analysis found "that sexual contact, taking everything in totality, likely occurred after Miss _____ and Mr. Bryant were together."

Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said the woman has said she might have picked up the underwear from her floor before putting them on to wear to her exam. The woman earlier had told a sheriff's detective that they were clean.

The woman could have sweat in the underpants, since the weather was warm in Eagle at the time, Hurlbert suggested, "rewetting" the dry stain.

Hurlbert also says in the transcript that prosecutors and Bryant's attorneys briefly discussed a plea bargain, but the sides were far apart on the issue and couldn't reach an agreement.

In an earlier release of the June 21-22 hearing transcripts, Bryant attorney Pamela Mackey said the alleged victim received about $20,000 in crime victim compensation funds, creating a motivation for her "false allegation."

Clune called the suggestion that the woman and her family would profit from the case "obscene."

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